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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Interactive Friction: Far Cry 3: Episode 16: Bugged Out Bridge

We died a few times too many in this episode, so Sam edited a couple of deaths out in post to make it a little more watchable. Also, we had one scene where I commented that a flashing light was "Seizure Inducing." Sam kindly edited this out too because we obviously don't want to cause anyone seizures.

I really liked the first mission of this video. It's cool to be able to fully explore an area and get a true feel for enemy movements and positioning before you engage. In terms of play, this makes it one of the most interesting missions in the game. All stealth requires a bit of planning and tactical thinking, but the disguise gives you even more freedom to do so. It is actually a shame that they only utilize this mechanic on a single mission.

I think the fact that we encountered so many small, but noticeable bugs in this section. from Sam's animations to the ultra-bloom, and even the guy falling through the bridge, is indicative of Ubisoft spending less time on this second island's content than the first island. Even the content itself feels derivative of the early content, without being too original except for a few missions.

This could be for any number of reasons. First, studies have demonstrated that not many people actually finish the games that they play. Statistically speaking, most players likely would not have even seen this section of the game. This would naturally lead designers to focus a bit more on the segments at the beginning. Furthermore, designers are just more naturally inclined to start with the beginning missions, and keep going from there. Either of these thought processes would explain why this second island got less attention spent on it.

As for the story itself, there is not much to comment on. This is all pretty clearly filler. We've already established that there we do not need to do this to kill Hoyt. By all rights, he should be dead and we should be at the grand finale. But it that doesn't convince you, the opening to the next episode will.